The pilot for Mumbai Calling was broadcast so long ago that the catch-up introduction to the new series was almost an episode in itself. For those who missed it, or have scant recall of what happened, the pilot saw Wembley-born Kenny Gupta (Sanjeev Bhaskar) sent off to Mumbai to manage a call centre, along with troubleshooting assessor Terri Johnson, who turned out to be a woman (Daisy Beaumont). An attractive woman. You get the idea.

And it's not bad. It's not great either, but there is enough funny material to inspire cautious optimism, and the central characters definitely show potential, which is the most important factor in a sitcom's success. There is no laughter track, always a good thing, and the sheer originality of the setting merits some acknowledgement. I say give it a chance.

Oddly enough, for a television comedy, many of the best scenes occurred as reported action off screen. Such as the episode's funniest moment in which the India-based team inadvertently directed a funeral cortege away from Milton Keynes Crematorium and into Woburn Safari Park, where the corpse was set upon by lions.

I laughed a lot at that bit and also derived much pleasure from Nitin Ganatra's over the top performance as the amiable but ineffectual middle manager Dev. Every good sitcom needs a scene stealer.

Filmed entirely in Mumbai, this refreshingly original new sitcom stars Sanjeev Bhaskar as a British Asian called Kenny who is sent out (or "home", as his boss puts it) to India to help improve the fortunes of a failing call centre.

No doubt due to empty coffers, and capitalising on the cachet of a post-Slumdog Millionaire comedy set in a Mumbai call centre, not to mention the high profile of the actor Nitin Ganatra (Masood in EastEnders), ITV has dusted off this long-left-on-the-shelf comedy show, which piloted two years ago to decidedly lukewarm reviews. From the team behind Birds of a Feather, Auf Wiedersehen Pet and Lovejoy, it stars Sanjeev Bhaskar as a British-born Indian sent to manage a Mumbai call centre. It manages to swerve the Mind Your Language trap of jokes centred around the fact that the Indian employees don't speak the lingo too well, but only just. There are a few chuckles to be had along the way - mainly from Ganatra, who is a rather good comic actor, but on the whole it's about as funny as a slum clearance.

Sanjeev Bhaskar stars in this inventive new seven-part comedy series, filmed entirely on location in India. Sanjeev plays Kenny Gupta, packed off to Mumbai to try and rescue a struggling call centre, run by the less than reliable Dev Rajah (EastEnders' Nitin Ganatra). Daisy Beaumont plays a troubleshooter whose arrival only adds to the confusion.

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Mumbai Calling was a pilot for a new sitcom. At this stage, the sit seems promising - but, if there is to be a series, it'll need to work a lot harder on the com part.

Sanjeev Bhaskar plays Kenny Gupta - who, at the start of last night's show, was working in the accounts department of a Jewish family firm in London. (The Jewish element is presumably where Bhaskar's co-writers, Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, come in.) But then the firm's patriarch, who clearly knew a thing or two about how to set up a traditional comedy plot, decided that his dim nephew and his glamorous but spoilt daughter should join Kenny in running the company's new call centre in Mumbai.

So far, the inevitable cultural clashes have been disappointingly, even lazily familiar. The daughter was surprised to discover that Mumbai is a big messy city instead of the spiritual India of her romantic imaginings. As a special treat, the dim nephew tried to serve the workers a beef dinner.

Both Mumbai and the call centre itself could yet make for an interesting and unusual sitcom setting. If so, however, the script will have to get to grips with it in a much more coherent, as well as a funnier way. At the moment, the result just feels like a slightly plodding drama with a few little (and entirely detachable) gags sprinkled on top.

This was a very promising start for this brand new ITV sitcom. Now there's a sentence we never envisaged writing in our lifetime. Based in a Mumbai call centre, it was an enjoyable half-an-hour, with much thanks to the wonderful Sanjeev Bhaskar. This man can do no wrong.